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Four More Weeks of Winter (and Six More Weeks of Construction)

I think I’ve been fairly patient through this process of construction, but last week I hit a wall.

After Paul and I went through the house, we were standing on the deck in the Florida sunshine and I thought, “Why aren’t we done yet?”

I asked John the next day when the house would be completed — which I define as the city issuing a certificate of occupancy, meaning we can move in — and he said, “April.” This is a month later than we had originally anticipated.

“Not April,” I said. “No.”

“No?” he replied, looking amused.

Paul had left the room to take a business call, so it was just John and me, head to head.

“April is too far away,” I said, thinking about the fact that friends are already booking trips for early that month. I asked him about March.

John considered. “There’s still a lot to be done,” he said. But he conceded that, as long as there were no major setbacks, it was possible to complete the house by then.

That was as late as I was willing to go. But couldn’t things happen even faster? Why, I asked, did we even need six weeks?

And that’s when he listed what still needed to be done, explaining that there was a natural order of progression. From many years of experience, he’s learned that it’s better to do messy stuff — like tiling and painting — before laying wood floors or installing cabinets, which can get dirty or damaged.

If you are sick of winter, start planning your spring! Think about all the new plants you’re going to plant and all the great walks up and down the beach you’re going to have. Its not much further and it will definitely pay off. Get some supplies together and plan a vegetable garden for your place. Even people who don’t have a beautiful new house with a yard can do it in their apartment.

Rushing the finish details toward the end of construction is never a good idea, especially since you have no on-site representative watching over this project. Mistakes can and will be made be made, especially if too many different subcontractors are trying to work inside the house at one time.

Besides, do you really want house guests before getting settled in and working out all the kinks? Because there will be kinks!

As usual, A&P are living in a dream world. They just refuse, explicitly and openly, to get it. Like spoiled brats. My prediction several months ago was CO on May 7, and I said a few weeks ago that that looked, if anything, optimistic. I’m standing by my earlier remarks, and if anything it’s looking even more like an optimistic date, particularly in view of that list of undone items. Of course, given that this project is in the media spotlight (flashlight??), John and the local building inspection office might get together and push it through; we’ll stand by and see.

Wow. It would take me between now and the end of March (working on it part-time) to procure (and install) all of the furniture, linens, art, drapes, lamps, pool supplies, bathroom supplies, vacuum cleaners, kitchen supplies and other sundry items that allow one to entertain multitudes in a four-bedroom house. Your guests, I presume, are bringing sleeping bags (or perhaps the commenter that snarkily suggested “Rooms to Go” is correct?)?

And which parts would you like him to do faster? Your commenters have told you many times to expect time delays. It is in the nature of things and to throw a hissy fit won’t lead to quality construction. You are too old to act like a spoiled brat.

Um, installing appliances needs to take place after the granite goes in; probably one of the last things to happen would be appliances. This is assuming this list is in order of operation; I could be wrong. Don’t deliver appliances until the day they are installed otherwise they will get dinged or wind up growing legs and walking away.
Oh, hopefully, the granite fabricator will install a recessed and epoxied in piece of wood where the dishwasher goes so it can be fastened to the bottom of the counter top.

As someone who certainly can’t be considered to be John’s best buddy – I have to say Alison – you are acting like a spoiled child. If Johns says it will take 6 weeks to do a good job of finishing this house – he means it. How is it in his interest to delay things (the longer things take – the later he gets paid)? If I were John – I’d have A&P sign a waiver of any damage done as a result of subs tripping over one another – and possibly damaging what’s being installed.

Keep in mind that with an April completion date – we’re talking about 8 months total for construction – which is well within a reasonable range for a house like this. And things would have gone somewhat faster had A&P done their homework before ground was broken. So Alison – I don’t think you’ve been patient at all. Instead – you procrastinated at just about every point where procastination was possible – and then you procrastinated for as long as possible. Grow up! It is more important to have John finish the house right than to provide a crash pad in March for your friends who are too cheap in stay in a hotel. And if they are really your friends – they’ll visit you in May.

Anyway – on this issue – I am 100% on John’s side.

FWIW – I think this is a very ambitious schedule of things to be done even in 6 weeks. And there will be the inevitable punch list after everything is “finished”. You don’t want a house full of guests when you’re doing the initial “shake down” cruise. Because those things on the punch list will require subs to show up and fix things – usually at 7 am. Not a conducive environment for a house full of people.

Regarding earlier comments – I had read about the Pine Avenue lots when I googled John a long time ago. With these things – who knows? I sometimes get involved with local community zoning issues – and I have files 10 inches thick on some of them. They are usually *very* long stories – and it’s hard to know the facts (much less reach a conclusion about them) unless you’re involved in them. FWIW – I don’t think the houses are great beauties – but I also think that a lot of AMI structures which are described as “quirky and charming” look like a bunch of shacks. Like parts of Key West and St. Augustine.

Mike – Thanks for the info about the queen palms. My neighbor planted a “hedge” of them on our lot line. They look awful – very yellow (our soil is much too alkaline and they’re subject to period marsh flooding). Oh well – they’ll be dead next time we get a nice hard freeze.

As for architects – with ours – we paid $5000 for a complete set of construction plans – and about 4 site inspections (he did drop by more often than that because he was in the neighborhood all the time). Of course – he was new in town – the housing market was slow – and most builders here don’t like to use architects. And he was not a supervising architect (responsible for seeing that things were built properly). So it always pays to shop before you say you can’t afford an architect. Robyn

A & P, I’m heartened to know there are at least two irrepressible optimists left on this planet. Throughout all this, you allowed friends and family to book travel based on the assumption your place would be done on time. Are we building a house here, or running a state of the art, just-in-time auto manufacturing line? Nothing against John, but would you please share what you’re smoking?

Is there any provision in the contract that speaks to what happens if the project runs late? Penalty assessed against the contractor for being late? Incentive for being done early or on time? Do you want to devise either or both now? How much of this delay is the fault of the homeowners?

One one hand, a happy contractor and employees and subs who aren’t feeling rushed will probably do the best work on all these very visible finishing elements of the house. On the other hand, a deadline is a deadline. Good luck.

I’m with Joanie, it is not a good idea to rush the finishing details. You want your dream home finished with some thought not in a mad rush – you won’t be happy with the results. Remember all the things on the list are the things you and your guests will see everyday. Give john the time he needs to really do it right.

What if one of the stone slabs cracks or chips? All sorts of things can go wrong when you are installing granite. What if one of the appliances arrives damaged and needs to be replaced? What if John gets the flu? What if the plumber gets the flu? And I’d really worry about the hardwood floors. Has the wood been stored so that it has cured to match your house’s temperature and humidity? If it hasn’t, you are likely to have some warping or gaps. Also, depending on the kind of finish you are applying to the wood, you may need to wait a while for the chemicals to stop giving off fumes. This happened to me, and I wound up staying an extra two weeks in a motel.

This schedule is unrealistic, to put it mildly. With the best will in the world, John and his subs will be hard pressed to complete the house by April, let alone March.

Why on earth would one tell friends and relatives to book travel for (even very optimistically) a month or two after your house was finished? Even if construction went like greased lightning, there’d still be furniture and household odds and ends to buy. Our last move was with two little kids, and it probably took about half a year to really settle in, and it will probably be a year before the last box of papers is unpacked. You guys don’t have little kids, but you do have a basketball team’s worth of teenagers/young adults, two other houses, and two high-powered careers. Go slow and get things done right. You can always stay in a hotel and put your friends up, or maybe rent a house. It will be expensive, but what a good lesson for people who ought to know better.

I feel sorry for John the builder, but I’m sure he’s used to working with whiny clients. Why rush everything now, the interior finish work is what you see every day, who wants to live with hastily installed fit-outs. But really, carpet in the baths, what were they thinking.

The Queen palms don’t do well in hurricanes as witnessed in 2004 & 2005. //treesandhurricanes.ifas.ufl.edu
They are on the number 2 (II) invasive plant list as plants that may be regionally invasive now and may become a problem for all of central and south Florida in the future: //www.fleppc.org/list/07list_ctrfld.pdf. (And so is the Washington fan palm.) As Mike has tried to tell everyone, it is so much more sustainable on many levels to plant our beautiful, native species instead of non-natives and their intrinsic problems. Ginny

It’s best not to rush the finish work. Remember this work is what you will see everyday you live in the house. You will notice anything that wasn’t done quite right because it was rushed. Call your guests scheduled for early April and reschedule they will understand. If they are reading this blog they probably already know and will be calling you to reschedule.

Since there are only 11 comments at the moment I don’t think the horse is quite beaten to death. That gives me latitude to echo Robyn and point out that the progress on this house would have been much faster if the Ms. Davis and Mr. Brown had held up their end of the custom build process and made some decisions.

Just a few weeks ago Ms. Davis admitted to procrastinating in a post titled Are We Done Yet?

“What I should have done yesterday was make progress on all the decisions that still need to be made on our house…But I didn’t.”

Putting the screws to your builder and subs at the finishing stage is a great way to ensure that this whole custom home project ends up poorly wrapped up.

The poor analogy I can think of is buying an Armani suit and having the tailor rush the alterations. It’s nice, but it could have been so much nicer if the right amount of time was taken to get the job done.

It was foolish to let people make travel plans based on your expected completion date. My own project has gone way over schedule (but not over budget!) but I knew that was the nature of the beast. I think a quick glance at the Project Triangle should frame your expectations.

I suppose it is possible to imagine a kitchen installation going absolutely smooth, with no holdups, glitches, or errors. It is also possible to imagine travel faster than the speed of light. But I wouldn’t book a flight on the Millennium Falcon any time soon.

You are counting on nobody dropping a cabinet box or dinging a door; no installer cutting just that quarter inch too far with his skillsaw; the granite being in stock, templated correctly, and cut exactly right the first time; all the trim being the right size/color and enough of it on hand.

And this has to happen not only in the kitchen, but in all the bathrooms, before the plumbing can be hooked up and the water turned on.

But perhaps the house guests are Katrina veterans or Peace Corps alumni, used to roughing it?

I’m assuming that when a newspaper editor says you must be finished by a particular date and time that a writer must comply. Not that it is easy to make the deadline, but I bet the writer almost always does.

Building a structure just doesn’t work like that. As has been pointed out, there are many, many variables involved and neither the owner nor the contractor can completely control all the variables. I haven’t built a home but I have been involved in commercial construction and in having homes remodeled. A finish time in construction is a guideline, not an absolute.

From what my builder and his crew (brothers) tell me, you are about average in terms of patience. Most home owners building for the first (and often, last) time don’t grasp how long seemingly simple things can take, especially towards the end (finishing work.) Because of your distance-enforced uninvolvement with the process, I think you have less appreciation of timing than you’d have had otherwise.

Here’s *really* impatient: Owner yells at builder for not installing something the owner has not yet chosen. Yells at builder for not installing it properly and requires re-do. Once the home is done and owner has moved in, owner yells at builder some more (30 mins) for not having done it faster, accusing of false advertising, fraud, and other nasty things. (True story — husband apologized for wife’s behavior at the time. Wife called two weeks later, apologized, and enthused about how well built the house was.) My builder says that this is all part of the emotional roller coaster most owners experience, and he takes it in his stride. You obviously respect John much more than this.

Here’s extremely patient (and why I think my builder goes out of his way for me.) Builder says, “X is done, and we had planned to start Y next. But, X would be stronger and more durable if we wait a week or so to let it dry and stabilize before we proceed. I’d prefer two weeks, and three would be ideal.” I say, “You need to time to do it right, you take the time.” I call and make sure his he and his crew are observing holidays (like Thanksgiving and Christmas) and not short-changing their families on my behalf. When one of the crew wrenched his back on my job and had to stop work for a week, I sent a card, and assured my builder that we understood the slow-down this would cause.

I’m not holding myself out as a paragon of anything. We simply determined before we started that we would rather have it right than fast. We currently have a roof over our heads (which is increasingly more Havoc House than not, but …) and no outside deadlines to meet (our current house is not on the market, since we need to vacate our overgrown supply of things before we can prep for sale, and now is not a good time to sell, anyway.) We find the process stressing but fun. And for me, it’s worth the wait to get as close to the dream as I can. I intend to live there a long time, and I want it to live up to the dream.

So we can afford to be patient, and it’s always easier to do things when you have the resources.

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They've found an idyllic tiny town in Florida, they've bought a piece of land and now Paul B. Brown and Alison Davis are setting out to build their dream house. How hard can it be, they wonder, even though they live 1,500 miles away, they've never built a home before and they don't know anything about architects, builders, local zoning laws or financing? On this blog for Great Homes, they recount their successes and failures and will chronicle their adventures to come.